


Unnoticed

by DelwynCole



Category: The West Wing
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-11
Updated: 2010-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-08 21:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelwynCole/pseuds/DelwynCole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The death of a man who might have been president.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unnoticed

**Author's Note:**

> This was written with a daily prompt for my writing journal. It's Alternate Universe, with Bartlett having lost the nomination for the presidency. I'm pretty fond of the premise, and someday I may play around in this universe. I'm not entirely in love with this story though.

Outside of New Hampshire, few people noticed the passing of Josiah Bartlett. He'd been sixty-nine years old. It was dutifully reported in print and the national news networks. He had after all once run for president, and the disease that killed him had first destroyed his hopes of holding that office.

Scattered across the country, a handful of people marked the day with a touch of sadness. His funeral was large, but the only person without a connection to the state of New Hampshire to be there was Leo McGarry who sat with the family, silently weeping for his oldest friend and the dreams they'd never acchieved.

In the main offices of the Democratic National Committee, Josh Lyman was lost in thoughts of what might have been. He'd walked away from the man who eventually became the nominee to follow a dream with a man from Nashua who spoke with integrity. He'd been offered campaign positions and places on the staffs of several congressmen since, but he thought he might be ruined for politics. Nobody lived up to the standard that Jed Bartlett had set. So, he worked hard in the committee offices, practically running the DCCC these last few years, and planning his attack to get the only other person he knew with Bartlett's integrity to run one day.

Sam Seaborn cancelled his appointments for the afternoon after reading of Bartlett's death. His secretary had asked him if something were wrong, and he honestly didn't know how to answer. He'd been with the Bartlett campaign for only two months before it imploded spectacularly, but it had changed his life. Josh was a big part of that, but Bartlett was, perhaps, a bigger part. He'd shown Sam something that he'd almost stopped believing in. It was possible to live your principles, to campaign cleanly and without toning down your social agenda and still get ahead. They'd been the number two candidate and gaining on Hoynes fast when news of Bartlett's MS had broken. It had broken something in Sam to have to walk away from the campaign, but the campaign had rekindled a passion for politics that Sam had thought he'd lost forever. A year later he'd been here, back in his home state of California. A year after that he was sitting in the state legislature. Three days ago, he'd announced his candidacy for governor. He hadn't known Bartlett well, but his death had more than effected him.

Toby Ziegler had given up on national campaigns after Bartlett's had self-destructed. He hadn't given up on politics. He'd wheedled his way into the offices of the New York City mayor almost three years ago. He loved his job, and the best part about it was that he was just a bit player. Nobody was asking him to run things, and nobody was blaming him when things went wrong. He'd had a call a few months back from Sam Seaborn, who he'd almost forgotten in the years since Bartlett's campaign, asking for help with a speech. He thought maybe someday, if Sam were to run, that was a campaign that might draw him back into that craziness. For now he was able to work to keep his mind off his last campaign.

CJ Cregg had stared at the newspaper for a full five minutes after reading the announcement of Bartlett's death. Her assistant had found her there, still looking at the paper.

"You have a meeting with United Way of Greater Chicago in five minutes, CJ." When her boss didn't look up she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Governor Bartlett died."

The girl crinkled her forehead. "Who?"

Across the country the death of Josiah Bartlett went unnoticed.

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this one. TWW fic where Bartlett never one the nomination.


End file.
